CHANGE: Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short. “The median household headed by a person aged 60 to 62 with a 401(k) account has less than one-quarter of what is needed in that account to maintain its standard of living in retirement, according to data compiled by the Federal Reserve and analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for The Wall Street Journal. Even counting Social Security and any pensions or other savings, most 401(k) participants appear to have insufficient savings.” Part of this, of course, is not putting in enough all along, part is lousy performance by the markets over the last 20 years, and part is desire to retire early. Me, since I don’t have one of those golden defined-benefit pensions that state employees in other states have, I’ve maxed out contributions to my defined-contribution plan every year for quite a while and my prospects for early retirement nonetheless look poor. Actual performance since I started my current job has been around 4% overall; if I’d relied on those rosy 8-10% forecasts I’d have put in less. Oh, well: Maybe markets will boom when the next administration shrinks government dramatically. If not, well, I wasn’t planning on retiring until at least 70 anyway . . . .